ITA Mountain Regionals Final Results

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – This weekend, the Northern Arizona University women's tennis team competed at the ITA Mountain Regional Championships in Las Vegas, Nev.  The Lumberjacks posted an impressive 13 wins in singles play, finishing the weekend with a winning record. On the doubles side, freshman Hanneke Lodewijks and sophomore Blanka Szavay advanced to the quarterfinals after downing Brigham Young University's Savannah Ware and Brittanie Eraso 8-4 in the round of 32 and University of Colorado's Jeannez Daniel and Ruia Ormeno Ruiz 8-7 in the round of 16.

"I really think we established ourselves as a more dominant team in our region this weekend," Head Coach Kim Bruno said. "I also think that with each match we played, every one of our girls got better. We haven't posted these results in a long time; we're on the breakthrough of something really special."

Northern Arizona was one of 18 schools who competed this weekend among Air Force Academy, Brigham Young University, University of Colorado, Colorado State, Denver University, University of Idaho, Montana State, University of Nevada, Reno, University of New Mexico, New Mexico State, Northern Colorado University, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, University of Utah, Utah State, Weber State and University of Wyoming.

Leading the way in singles wins- and turning some heads at that- was Lodewijks, taking down players from Air Force Academy, University of Utah, Boise State and Brigham Young University. She finished the weekend with just one loss against UNLV's Aiwhen Zhu in the round of 16. Senior Jordan Denesik was right up there with Lodewijks garnering three wins and only one loss to the University of Colorado's Tina Bokua. Denesik finished on top 6-1, 6-1 to Wyoming's Sannie Hoekstra on Wednesday, Oct. 14 and later defeated Lucia Badillos from Idaho 6-4, 7-6 and Jessica Brycki from Montana State 6-2, 6-4 to finish out the weekend.

Marta Lewandowska and Hailey Rochin also picked up two wins for the Lumberjacks. Rochin kicked off singles play with a victory over Erika Castillo (New Mexico State) 6-1, 7-6 in the first round of singles, while Lewandowska dropped her first match and bounced back on Friday, Oct. 16 to trump Maggie O'Meara from Utah State 6-1, 6-0. The two picked up their second wins on Saturday, Oct. 17; Rochin's being over Montana State and Lewandowska's over University of Nevada, Reno.  

"Not only did we have a winning record leaving this tournament which is a feat in itself considering the number of talented teams and players, but people were noticing NAU," Bruno said. "We're going to be a threat to a lot of teams."  

Northern Arizona is back in action the weekend of Oct. 30 at the University of New Mexico. After that, just two more tournaments remain on the Lumberjacks' fall slate at Grand Canyon University (Nov. 6-8) and Arizona State University (Nov. 13-15).